TUTI LASMIASIH, 2201417046 (2022) STUDENTS’ ABILITIES IN PRONOUNCING ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS: A CASE OF THE 8 TH GRADERS OF SMPN 18 SEMARANG IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2021/2022. Under Graduates thesis, Unnes.

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Abstract

English is an international language and very important in any case. There are four language skills in learning English. One of the important skills to be mastered by Indonesian learners is pronunciation skill. In pronunciation, there are many components of language which include stress and intonation, grammar or structure, and vocabulary. In Indonesia, teaching learning English at high school level is based on the curriculum, that is text-based approach. Text-based approach used to develop students’ awareness of the linguistic features of spoken and written texts. English diphthong is one of the difficult sounds pronounced by Indonesian learners. There are nine diphthongs to be mastered by the learners, not only for Indonesian learner but also for international learners. Pronunciation skill is very important for the learners as non-native speaker. When the learners have English pronunciation skill properly, they can express or share their ideas more clearly and the listeners can understand what they pronounced. In case, if the learners pronounce English words improperly can cause misunderstanding in communication. The English learners faced the commonly problems in learning English, because they will identify new vocabularies, words, and different sound systems. English learners as non-native speakers have difficulties in pronouncing English fluently like a native because they have a habit to speak their mother language since childhood. This research aimed to investigate the students’ abilities in pronouncing English diphthongs sound. The objective of this research was to explain students’ abilities in pronouncing English diphthongs and explain the factors influencing students’ difficulties in pronouncing English diphthongs. This research used descriptive qualitative method. The participants were 29 students of the eighth graders of SMPN 18 Semarang. The instruments were pronunciation test and interview. The pronunciation test contained 90 words of nine English diphthongs and the interview contained 11 questions. The researcher used Tinambuan’s criterion to find out the level of criterion. The research found that the most difficult diphthong pronounced by the students is diphthong [ʊə] with the percentage 69% which was categorized as fair. In addition, from the interview result showed that the factors influencing students’ difficulties were the students unfamiliar with the words, the students pronounced the word as its written, and the students do not know how to read transcription. Therefore, the students faced difficult and hard how to pronounce the diphthongs words correctly. The advantage of this study was knowing that the students’ knowledge of English diphthongs is still lacking and the students’ abilities in pronouncing English diphthongs is also still low. From this research hoped that could develop the awareness of the teacher in teaching learning English diphthongs viii and improve the students’ knowledge and abilities in pronouncing English diphthongs sounds.

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